Ealing residents will be amazed to learn that Transport for London (TfL) has spent £30m on the bus station just opened in Shepherd's Bush.

Ealing residents will be amazed to learn that Transport for London (TfL) has spent £30m on the bus station just opened in Shepherd's Bush.

This is part of the new Southern Interchange at the main entrance to the Westfield London shopping centre, on top of the £170m spent by the developer on station improvements under a planning agreement negotiated by Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

The new interchange has Tube, bus, train and taxi links. TfL says it will cater for 10,000 passengers a day.

What a comparison with Ealing. When Crossrail arrives Ealing Broadway station will have to cope with four times as many passengers every day - 16,000 in the morning rush alone. Yet our council is supporting a half-baked scheme by developers Glenkerrin and will spend £4m just to re-arrange the bus stops round Haven Green.

This will not add a single new bus stop or parking stand, but will have to handle the 30 per cent increase in passenger numbers forecast by Crossrail and TfL. Worse still, it effectively cuts off the east side of Haven Green from the public open space, concentrating air pollution in pedestrian areas and further eroding our common land.

Many passsengers wanting to catch buses will have to cross two roads and still wait in the open.

There will be even less provision than at present for those being set down or picked up by car, and private vehicles will have to drive right round the centre of Ealing to get back to the north and east, further contributing to traffic congestion.

This ill-thought out, half-baked scheme is to be paid for by Section 106 money the council will receive from developers and which could be better used elsewhere.

It is a diversion to take attention away from the fact that there is still no proper plan for the centre of Ealing.

An integrated transport interchange at Ealing Broadway station is an essential element in reversing the decline of the town. Hammersmith and Fulham can do it -why can't Ealing?

And when will our council wake up and adopt a clear vision for the future, rather than allowing the initiative to pass to developers?